press release
Amsterdam, March 26, 2009
Dutch meet American Indians 400 years
after Henry Hudson
Rob Ruggenberg presents manhatan to Waupatukway at the Golden Hill
Indian Reservation in Trumbull ct.
On Saturday April 4th Dutch author Rob Ruggenberg will present the first copy of his new young adult book Manhatan to
Waupatukway (A.K.A. Shoran Piper), who gave her name to one of the three main characters in his new book. On that day it
will be exactly 400 years ago that Henry Hudson departed from Amsterdam on his expedition to New Amsterdam
Rob Ruggenberg will be accompanied by a group of Dutch teenagers living in New York and scientists. They will visit the
Golden Hill Indian Reservation together with Franz Wojciechowski, Holland’s greatest expert on American Indians, who
has done extensive fieldwork and archival research on the tribe since 1980.
about the book
Peye never knew who his father was, until one night when a stranger tells him that his father is
the director-general in New Amsterdam. Peye risks everything to travel to this Dutch settlement
in America. He succeeds but nothing happens as expected. The ship on which he sails to America
is wrecked and he washes onto the coast of Long Island, more dead than alive. His life is saved
by an Indian girl, Waupatukway. In the distance he can see the island of Manhatan with New
Amsterdam on it, and that’s where he wants to go. A thrilling combination of horrendous events
and historical facts.
Rob Ruggenberg
Manhatan
Querido
actors and actions on april 4
The modern Waupatukway lives at the Golden Hill reservation in Trumbull. She belongs to the
Golden Hill Paugussett tribe. Her name means White Deer and the heroine of Manhatan is named after her.
About 15 years ago Rob Ruggenberg met Waupatukway at the Golden Hill Indian reservation. She was the daughter of
Chief Big Eagle and was about 13 years old at the time. Now she is 28 and a mother of three. She still lives on the reservation.
Golden Hill Reservation in Trumbull, Connecticut, lies about 100 miles northeast of the city of New York. The reservation
is the smallest one in North America. It is about the size of a football field, with just one wooden log cabin on it.
The Dutch delegation will arrive at the Golden Hill Reservation at Saturday 4th of April, about 2 pm. A ceremony by Golden Hill Paugussett tribal members in regalia will be part of the celebration, which also features a presentation by author
Rob Ruggenberg.
Franz Wojciechowski is available for providing more information about the Indians of New Netherlands then and now. He
is anthropologist and clinical psychologist, and the American Indian expert in the Netherlands. His main area of expertise
is the Indians of the old New Netherlands area, and southern New England. He has written numerous articles about the
American Indians native to this area, plus two English language books on the Paugussett.
For more information:
www.manhatan.nl
www.ruggenberg.nl
Note for the editors, not for publication:
If you or a correspondent would like to be present during this presentation, or want more information about author
Rob Ruggenberg, please contact Jeanine Graaff at Querido’s Publishers in Amsterdam.
T +31 20 5511262, E [email protected]
Press photographs in high resolution are available via www.manhatan.nl/pers